Shakespeare starts his sonnet with a rhetorical question;
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
and then goes on to say;
“Thou art more lovely and more temperate”
which leads us to believe that she is far more pleasant and beautiful than summer itself. As we read the next line;
“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”
a pleasing image conjures up in our minds. The next line suggests that summer is too short and the beauty of the lady will last forever;
“And summer’s lease hath all to short a date”.
The following line;
“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines”
uses personification which personifies heaven. It suggests that he prefers the lady to summer as the lady has no unpleasant extremes. Shakespeare has deliberately used elaborate language. The line also compares her radiance to the sun. But as the line after suggests the sun is often covered by clouds but her beauty will never dim and always shine through;
“And often is his gold complexion dimmed”.
Afterward Shakespeare say’s;
“And every fair from fair sometime declines,”
which portrays to us that everything shall fade. Shakespeare then makes an emphatic statement and also a paradox;
“But thy eternal summer shall not fade,”
She is then complimented that she will never lose her beauty;
“Nor lose possession of that fair owest”
and death will never be able to touch her and she is immortal;
“Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade”.
In the last two lines he is triumphant that he has proved the paradox. The last lines
“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee”
say his sonnet will last forever which instantly takes away the romance as he all along was complimenting his poem rather than the lady.
The next sonnet named ‘Sonnet’ by Drayton is similar to Shakespeare’s sonnet as it also includes a witty reversal of meaning. It uses a broken rhythm to suggest the pauses of natural speech. It uses the same rhyme scheme as Shakespeare sonnet which is a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. It is also a Shakespearian sonnet written in the Shakespearian period.
Dayton uses simple, colloquial language and commands such as ‘come’;
“Since there’s no help, come, let us kiss and part”.
He uses great emphasis to emphasize his point and too perhaps convince himself;
“And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart”.
He also very formally addresses the lady as ‘you’. Then definite formal parting is suggested;
“Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows”
and he urges her to make a break. Then the sonnet seems to change meaning and be at an elaborate death bed scene. Love, passion, faith and innocence are all given human characteristics;
“Now at the last gasp of Love’s latest breath,
When his pulse is failing, Passion speechless lies,
When Faith is kneeling by his bed of Death,
And Innocence is closing up his eyes”.
The use of capital letters for ‘Love’ ‘Passion’ ‘Faith’ and ‘Innocence’ also suggests that they are people. The last rhyming couplet is a clever paradox which in fact is the real Volta of the Sonnet makes an intimate appeal to breath life back into their love;
“Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,
From death to Life, thou might’st him yet recover.”
He now addresses the lady as ‘thou’ which suggest intimacy.
The final sonnet ‘Sonnet 93’ by E. Barrett Browning is almost totally different to the other two sonnets by Shakespeare and Drayton. This sonnet is unconventional as it is a sincere love poem from a woman to man rather than man to woman. It doesn’t include a Volta so it suggests consistency of the love. It is also written in the Victorian period and in the form of a petrarchan sonnet whereas the other two sonnets are Shakespearian.
It is similar to ‘Shall I compare thee’ as it starts with a question;
“How do I love thee?”
However this is a sincere question as E. Barrett Browning say’s;
“Let me count the ways.”
She then expresses her love in terms of measurement;
“I love thee to the depth breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”
which suggests she loves her husband to every measurement used to calculate volume. E. Barrett Browning uses volume to express her love because the calculation is of a three dimensional shape which signifies her lover and she loves him to every corner, part and dimension. The use of the word ‘soul’ signifies the sincerity of her love for him. The next line suggests E. Barrett Browning’s love is eternal until the end of time and the use of the word ‘Grace’ suggests a spiritual connection with god;
“For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.”
E. Barrett Browning also suggests she loves him every minute of the day ‘by sun and candle-light.’ She also suggests that she loves him for the right reasons;
“I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;”
This suggests that she does not love him for money, physical appearance or praise and reward. This differs from Shakespeare’s sonnet as Shakespeare mentions a great deal about physical appearance in his sonnet.
The last line in the section portrays that E. Barrett Browning loves Robert Browning in a pure disinterested way;
“I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.”
Throughout the first eight lines of the sonnet the language is simple and personal. There is little elaboration and imagery which shows her true love and shows that the sonnet wasn’t written to impress the public. This differs from the other two sonnets as they were conventionally written to amuse the reader and in order to do this they included complex language and imagery.
The line beginning the final section of the sonnet shows that she loves Robert Browning with the depth, trust and emotion a child feels for their parents;
“I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”
Following this the next line supports a popular belief of the Victorians which was when you are born you are born pure and innocent. As you grow up you gather sin and impurity, and become further away from God. E. Barrett Browning says that Robert has taken away her sin and bought her closer to God once more just like when she was a young child;
“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,”
She also expresses that she loves her husband with every emotion she goes through in her life;
“-I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!”
The last line in the sonnets suggests her love is eternal and she will love Robert even in the afterlife;
“-and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.”
E. Barrett Browning doesn’t use a Volta in her sonnet as she wants to show her love is continuous and eternal which is a contrast from the other two poems.
All three sonnets appear to be about love but all show different meanings. Shakespeare’s sonnet seems to be about a true physical attraction to a lady and how her beauty is eternal when in fact he is really saying the beauty of his words are eternal. On the other hand Drayton’s sonnet appears to be about a dying woman when in fact it’s about a fading love desperate for love to be breathed into it. Finally E. Barrett Browning’s sonnet is totally sincere and includes no reversal of meaning.
The sonnets also have different forms and language. Shakespeare and Drayton both write a Shakespearian sonnet with complicated and elaborate language whereas E. Barrett Browning uses a Petrarchan form with simple language. Another resemblance is that E. Barrett Browning and Shakespeare consider love relates to time. The most obvious contrast is that Drayton and Shakespeare both use a Volta whereas E. Barrett Browning doesn’t.
Although I liked the clever, witty changes of meaning in the sonnets by Shakespeare and Drayton my favored sonnet would have to be ‘Sonnet 93’ by E. Barrett Browning. I liked it because of the sincerity of her love to her husband. I think when reading and understanding the sonnet the reader is emotionally touched by the strong feelings such simple words can put across.